Lot
230

John VI Cantacuzenus (1347-1353-1354), Christ bearded, standing facing in front of low thokos, wearing nimbus cruciger, chiton and himation, right hand raised in benediction, Gospels in left, the throne decorated with pellets in squares, in upper field to left and right ***, rev. John, bearded, standing facing, wearing crown with pendants, divitision and loros, holding cruciform sceptre in right hand, akakia in left, Manus Dei in upper right field, vertical inscriptions to right and left ****, border of dots, 22.53g. (ZV.128), extremely fine, very rare

Price realisedGBP 264

EstimateGBP 300 - GBP 500

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John VI Cantacuzenus (1347-1353-1354), Christ bearded, standing facing in front of low thokos, wearing nimbus cruciger, chiton and himation, right hand raised in benediction, Gospels in left, the throne decorated with pellets in squares, in upper field to left and right ***, rev. John, bearded, standing facing, wearing crown with pendants, divitision and loros, holding cruciform sceptre in right hand, akakia in left, Manus Dei in upper right field, vertical inscriptions to right and left ****, border of dots, 22.53g. (ZV.128), extremely fine, very rare

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Lot essay

Seals of John VI are very rare. There is a gold example in the monastery of Iviron at Mount Athos. John came to power after a long period of civil war which seriously weakened the empire. The emperor was powerless to prevent the Ottomans from taking Gallipoli in 1354, and in that year he retired to a monastery at Constantinople where he survived a further thirty years as the monk Joasaph, and where he wrote his famous history of his reign.